Pochettino ready for test of Saints squad depth

Mauricio Pochettino knows he will need to manage his Southampton squad carefully to keep his players fresh.

Southampton fell to a 2-0 loss against leaders Arsenal on Saturday but were without the services of influential centre-back Dejan Lovren, while England international Adam Lallana and young full-back Luke Shaw were both substituted at the Emirates Stadium.

Pochettino explained that Lovren's absence was due to an illness from which he is expected to make a swift recovery, while Shaw suffered a first-half impact injury.

"Dejan Lovren had a really bad night and stayed back in Southampton," said Pochettino. "Hopefully he's going to be back in fit, 100 per cent for Monday.

"Also we'll need to analyse how Luke Shaw is doing because in the first half he received a very strong knock on his leg.

"Hopefully the two of them will be back and ready for Monday."

Lallana started both England games during the international break, earning his first two caps, and Pochettino felt he needed a rest.

"Adam played two games for the national side and after that he was struggling a little bit physically," he added.

"There was a certain moment in the game against Chile where he opened up his legs and I think that caused him some pain and today that was causing him some pain.

"There are many games coming up and we have to be careful over how we use our players - not just him but all our players.

"We have to be careful how we manage the amount of games we have ahead of us."